In the past thirty years the exploration and exploitation of space has been one of the few new eras into which man has penetrated and opened a new frontier. Naturally, this drive was made by the two world powers which possess the resources and which are pushed by their competitive fight for public prestige and world-wide admiration. Once again Europe supplied many of the ideas and many of the leading people. And what did we do for ourselves?

In the beginning of post Second World War space activities we missed the start. The first satellites were already in orbit when the first space activities in Europe were proposed. But when we began to move in 1961 we began to move in the right direction. For our purpose the essential factor was the creation of the European agencies—ELDO and ESRO at that time—in which the national efforts of the member states were combined and co-ordinated towards the common goal.